Italian far left devestated after coalition with Ital's centre left

The experience of Alliance's coalition with Labour here in NZ is repeated in Italy.
This just in from Wikipedia, shows the dangers of going into power with the Social Liberals.

The Left – The Rainbow (La Sinistra – L'Arcobaleno, SA), is a left-wing federation of parties in Italy which was officially launched on 8–9 December 2007.[1][2] The goal of the federation is to unite Italian left parties in a united bloc, somewhat similar as the center-left forces have done with the Democratic Party. The federation is defined by its members as the "Italian radical left"[3].
The federation is composed of four parties:
the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC, communist, leader: Franco Giordano);
the Party of Italian Communists (PdCI, communist, leader: Oliviero Diliberto);
the Federation of the Greens (FV, green, leader: Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Minister of the Environment);
the Democratic Left (SD, socialist, leader: Fabio Mussi, Minister of University and Research).
Fausto Bertinotti, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and long-time leader of PRC, had announced that he would like to see Nichi Vendola, the openly gay and devout Catholic Communist President of Apulia, as the leader of the united left.[4]
It is unclear what this federation will exactly mean as the four parties tend to disagree on a number of issues, including the support for the Prodi II Cabinet[5][6], the symbol and the name of the federation with the Greens wanting the word "ecologist" and the Italian Communist the hammer and sickle to be included[7].

In the 2008 general election The Left – The Rainbow gained 3.1% of the vote and failed to gain any seats in the Italian Parliament.